1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an incrementally-sized standard-sized eating-ware system and processes for weight management; and more particularly to an Incrementally-Sized Standard-Sized Eating-ware System, using a plurality of formulas to establish and assign standard sizes to eating-ware, where the standard sizes are based on a series of incrementally-sized flat surfaces, and the flat surfaces establish the basis for total volumetric capacity equivalents, and the total volumetric capacity equivalents comprise volume inside the eating-ware and directly above the eating-ware, and the standard sizes are used as a guide to control amount and rate of food consumed for weight management; and wherein a plurality of incrementally-sized standard-sized eating-ware components have successively decreasing standard sizes to gradually and unnoticeably modify food portions consumed and/or the rate of food consumption, while minimizing the emotional impact on the user; and processes for use of the standard sizes and/or the incrementally-sized standard-sized eating-ware components for weight management and instilling healthy eating habits; and wherein a Caloric Density Mark consisting of a letter representation of food caloric density can be combined with the numeric representation of eating-ware standard size to guide a user while serving and consuming food.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The amount of food served usually determines the amount consumed. Consumers depend on the eating-ware that they are using to determine the amount of food they serve themselves. They are unaware that the size of their eating-ware impacts the amount and the rate that they consume their food. Nor can they determine the total volumetric food delivery capacity of their eating-ware by any currently available means.
Eating-ware components in a form of a flat surface are currently used for serving food and transfer of food directly to the user. Eating-ware components heretofore known and utilized for weight management generally require users to either measure and/or transfer food prior to being able to consume it directly from a flat surface or from any typical eating-ware.
Solid foods can be served extending beyond the rim of a container and eaten during the daily consumption process. Although the volume of food that can be served above the rim of eating-ware is not contained within, it does add to the total volume consumed. No currently devised eating-ware or method takes this and its impact on the daily consumption into account.
The current dietary recommendations require consumers to monitor and calculate their daily consumption vs. recommended amounts, which will vary with their age, gender, built, etc. This is a very complex and time consuming strategy that is difficult to implement for most adults, and especially for children. Currently there are no recommendations for gradually and unnoticeably modifying the amount and rate of consumption nor are there tools that would guide the user in this process to address their individual needs.
Bad eating habits result in overeating. When individuals eat big mouthfuls quickly they are not giving themselves enough time for the body to recognize that food was consumed. As a result, they continue to eat more food than they would have if they were mindful of their consumption.
Many people begin a diet abruptly by immediately reducing their caloric and food intake. Oftentimes these dieters become discouraged when their appetite does not readily adjust to the caloric modifications, and they suffer from feelings of hunger and deprivation. Discomfort and discouragement replace the drive to diet. As a consequence, many would be “dieters” quit their diet altogether or go through yo-yo dieting. Heretofore known and utilized devices fail to take into account the importance of change being gradual and unnoticeable, or fails to allow the user to use typical eating-ware. Instead, heretofore known and utilized devices, systems or elements—drastically alter how a person eats and makes the food restrictions glaringly obvious, which leads to feelings of deprivation and demotivation.
The main focus of the majority of diet devices heretofore proposed is either a focus on the food itself (i.e. calories, fat content, sugar content) or on the individual serving container. These devices do not take into the account that eating is a system of processes. For example, cooking, selection of eating-ware, decision of adequate portion (impacted by size of eating-ware components), selection of utensil-like eating-ware (impacts the rate of consumption unbeknownst to the user). During the process of transferring food from serving-ware into a container from which the food is eaten, the user estimates how much food to serve by visual determination. The planar view of the eating-ware component is a critical factor on the user's estimation of portion size. None of the heretofore disclosed devices or diet methods account for the fact that food portions appear visually smaller on a an eating-ware component with a larger planar view. Eating-ware of the same planar view may have different depths.
Most users are not aware of the fact that plate-like eating-ware can actually have a significant internal volume. A person, unaware, will serve more food on an eating-ware component of same surface dimension in a component that has greater depth. In fact some of the devices are in a shape of a box, which results in a user serving more than they would on a flat surface. In addition using a “device” as opposed to typical eating-ware would make a user more focused on being on a diet and increases the feelings of deprivation.
None of the heretofore known and utilized eating-ware devices give the user an ability to follow a numeric representation of portions on flat surfaces and portions served directly above the eating-ware components.
Moreover, none of the heretofore disclosed devices or diet methods take into account the relative size of eating-ware to other components in a setting during consumption. None of them address the importance of surrounding eating-ware accessories. That's because the focus of these devices is on food itself or they are used to measure and transfer food prior to consumption. Heretofore known and utilized eating-ware devices are not concerned with consumption processes as a system. Typically they consist of devices for measuring food contained within the device, the internal volume only.
Currently heretofore known and utilized eating-ware devices or diet methods generally fail to consider the importance of utensil-like eating-ware components that actually deliver food directly to the user and affect the rate of consumption, which is an important factor in overeating. This is because the devices do not address the most important factor of dieting, the entire eating process.
Surprisingly and unexpectedly, the incrementally-sized standard-sized eating-ware system and processes of the subject invention has determined that the entire consumption process impacts the user's ability to successfully manage their weight.
Most diet plans require a great deal of effort and “will-power” to count calories, attend meetings, choose different foods, or measure and control portion sizes. It is difficult for dieters to maintain this ritual for extended periods of time. Most people can not accurately estimate the calorie content of the substances they consume. A person would need to know the exact quantity of each ingredient in a meal to determine the total calorie intake. Most people therefore make a visual estimation of how much to serve themselves by visually evaluating the amount of food contained on their eating-ware in relation to the size of eating-ware. This is a very inaccurate process due to the variability of typical eating-ware. There is no simple way, such as standard sized eating-ware to guide the user in selecting eating-ware components that actually affect the amount of food served and consumed, and the rate of consumption, to optimize the feeling of satiation and prevent over-eating.
As eating-ware has increased in size, normal food portions served on that eating-ware appear smaller and smaller. In response, users have increased the amount served to compensate for this illusion. No prior art addresses this critical phenomenon.
When selecting the eating-ware there are limited choices of relative sizes within a typical eating-ware set, for example: dinner plate, salad plate, desert plate, bowl, cup. Depending on a manufacturer and/or style, all these items come in a variety of different sizes and configurations. In addition to china-like eating-ware, a consumer typically adds mugs, glassware, utensils and cutlery, and eating-ware accessories to complete a serving setting. Even though visually eating-ware components of the same type may appear similar, they will deliver very different food quantities. Depending on the style or manufacturer of the eating-ware, the internal volume of the eating-ware component and the amount of food that can be served above the upper boundary of component will vary. The user does not have a way of verifying how much total volumetric capacity an eating-ware component has and/or how the different components' total volumetric capacities relate to each other. For example: a flat plate vs. a deep plate vs. a bowl vs. a cup vs. a spoon vs. a fork, etc. No heretofore known and utilized device looks at the total (internal and directly above) volumetric capacity of the eating-ware components and assigns it a numerical equivalency that can be applied across different types and/or styles of components.
Some of the heretofore known and utilized devices remain the same size throughout the diet process, while other heretofore known and utilized devices require measurement and transfer of a food portion. None of the heretofore known and utilized devices take into account the impact on the user of seeing the smaller portion served on typically sized eating-ware. As the portions get smaller the user will feel more and more deprived and therefore more and more discouraged from continuing on his/her weight management program.
The focus of heretofore known and utilized devices is on measuring food or aspects related to its properties. No heretofore known and utilized eating system or process looks at consumption as a system. The importance of visual appearance of the food served relative to the total serve-able surface area, and the impact it will have on satiation and/or consumption is largely ignored by prior art. Further, heretofore known and utilized devices, systems and processes typically do not take into account the rate of consumption that is affected by the total volumetric capacity of utensil-like eating-ware components.
Moreover, heretofore known and utilized devices, systems and methods that have indicia (spoon-like or cup-like) are typically used for measurement of food during preparation. It is not designed for consumption and the marks are used to indicate the internal volume within the mark only.
Experts believe that losing weight slowly is healthier, and that it is important to change eating habits in order to maintain permanent weight loss. Changing eating habits includes not only modifying what an individual is eating, but also altering portion amounts through portion control. Studies show that visual perception influences food consumption. People eat more when given larger portions.
Portion control adjustment over a period of time greatly facilitates healthy weight loss, as the individual's behavior towards foods and portions becomes modified. The ability of an individual to maintain healthy weight is affected by the amount of food they serve themselves and the rate they consume the food. In addition to the size of portion consumed, the rate of consumption impacts the consumer's feeling of satiation. The slower the food is consumed, the more satisfied the user will feel with lesser amount of food. One way to control that is to eat more slowly, and another is to eat less with each mouthful. The heretofore known and utilized devices do not provide a solution for the user to control the amount of food per mouthful.
Moreover, dieting can be very embarrassing in our society and most users prefer to be discreet. However, none of heretofore known and utilized devices or systems can be used at the dinner table with guests without making it glaringly obvious to everyone that the user is dieting. There is a need in the art for a discrete gradual and unnoticeable portion control device and processes which can be utilized when dining with guests, without making the user's diet glaringly obvious.
None of heretofore known and utilized devices and/or systems provide a system that utilizes formulas to determine a standard size for all eating-ware components. Heretofore known and utilized devices and/or systems do not provide a system that can be used by manufacturers to indicate the standard sizes of eating-ware components for the users, so that the users will be able to continue to stay on their weight management regimen no matter what they eat (type of food and/or type of meal), what eating-ware component they eat from (plate, bowl, cup, glass, flat surface, bag, pre-packaged-ware, etc.), what they eat with (fork, knife, spoon, straw, chop sticks, etc.), or where they eat (restaurant, cafeteria, friends home), as long as the users verify the standard size of the eating-ware components that they are using. There is a need in the art to provide a device, system and process that yields these capabilities.
The vast majority of portion control and other dieting devices heretofore disclosed and utilized do not address gradual behavior modifications, and therefore are difficult to utilize over time. That is to say, those dieting devices and processes presently in vogue do not provide gradual portion control devices and discrete behavioral modifications. Instead, the majority of dieting devices and processes provide abrupt, immediate portion adjustments, which result in feelings of deprivation as the dieter's appetite does not so abruptly diminish. These portion control dieting devices generally involve plates or containers having partitioned or compartmentalized assemblies demarcated by a specific food group appointed to be utilized by a user on a daily basis. None of these devices concern themselves with the fact that solid foods can be served beyond the rim of the container, nor the fact that foods can be served on flat surfaces.
For various examples of these compartmentalized assemblies, see the following: U.S. Pat. No. 4,877,119 to Hosking discloses a drinking-beaker assembly including a collar and volumetric structure that is appointed to serve as both a drinking vessel, especially the drinking of water in the course of a diet, and a device for determining the precise amount of liquid consumed; U.S. Pat. No. 6,296,488 to Brenkus et al. discloses a diet method and apparatus which controls the portion size by providing a plate with a plurality of compartments associated with a meal card; U.S. Design Pat. No. D194054 to Grossman discloses an ornamental design for a plate having three compartments, wherein each of the compartments includes a picture symbol representing the food group which is to be portioned in the respective compartment; U.S. Design Pat. No. D200867 to Haifley discloses an ornamental design for a plate or dish wherein approximately one-half of the structure includes caloric indicia thereon, which does not appear to be utilized for holding food, while the other half seems to be appointed for holding food; U.S. Design Pat. No. D281849 to Cantor discloses an ornamental design for a diet plate that utilizes curved rib portions to apparently form food dividers or compartments to separate food items or portions; U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0029698 to Watson et al. discloses a food template adapted to be removably applied to a food bearing surface of a food holder, such as a plate to define a plurality of areas for food portions to be placed; Foreign Publication No. GB 2119633 to Mackay discloses a compartmented plate divided into different regions which are marked in a different manner, such as by color coding, to indicate the different types of foods intended to be placed in each region; and “The Diet Plate®—Portion Control Made Easy” found at www.thedietplate.com discloses a weight management system consisting of plates and cereal bowls for a family wherein the plate or cereal bowl includes markings therein to indicate the given food groups and respective portion sizes.
These portion control dieting devices do not resemble eating-ware components that are typically used by most users today, and cannot be applied to typical devices that may be utilized in the future. They are cumbersome and either glaringly announce to the user and his/her companions that the user is on a diet, or force them to measure and transfer food prior to serving for consumption. Further, these portion control devices do not address all aspects of eating-ware one eats from, or eats with, or pre-served prepared sources of food or prepackaged food. These portion devices do not adjust in size in a discrete and gradual manner, at increments so small that the small changes are virtually unnoticeable by the user. Moreover, none of these devices address the rate at which food is transferred directly to the user's mouth. They ignore the fact that a flat plate, a fork or a flat surface has a volumetric capacity to deliver food portions, and that eating-ware with an internal volume also has capacity to deliver solid foods directly above the rim of the eating-ware. None of these devices address the importance of the relative size of all components that make up a setting, nor the need for incrementally-sized standard sized series of eating-ware settings.
Additionally, the indicia used on heretofore disclosed devices and methods are either decorative or used for specifying areas of a plate to be used for particular type of food. None of the indicia is used to help the user select sequential standard sizes of typical eating-ware components which relate to the total volumetric capacity to hold food within and directly above the eating-ware component. None of the heretofore disclosed devices and methods can help a user to size their current or future eating-ware components. The indicia described in heretofore disclosed devices and methods used for measurement generally refer to the volume contained within the indicated mark or within the component. None of the heretofore disclosed devices and methods take into account the volume of food that can be served directly above the eating-ware or the fact that some eating-ware has no internal volume. Depending on the shape of the utensil-like eating-ware component, very different amounts of food can be delivered per each mouthful. None of the heretofore disclosed devices and methods that have these indicia concerns itself with these aspects because the purpose of heretofore disclosed devices and methods is for measurement of ingredients during food preparation and not during consumption.
For repositionable compartmentalized devices see: U.S. Pat. No. 4,966,295 to Parrish, which discloses a compartmentalized dieting plate having a partitioned assembly that divides the plate to form predetermined fluid capacity compartments, and in which the partition assembly may be repositioned to adjust the compartmentalized capacities as a dieters requirements change; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,007,743 to Brennan, which discloses a food metering dish including a dish member with a continuous surrounding wall defining an interior cavity having first and second concave recesses for receiving metered containers there within, the recesses being appointed with ribs with removable partition walls to form compartments for food portions for controlling amounts served.
These types of devices do not change the overall dimensions and/or the visual planar reference the food is served on and are not meant to be eaten from in a daily lifestyle. They may help the user if the food type is such that each ingredient can be separated. Many foods today come as a mixture of ingredients and this type of device would be very cumbersome to use with mixtures. Further, these devices could not easily be used in a work environment or in a restaurant and they do not resemble typically used eating-ware, which would make it glaringly obvious to the user and his/her companions that the user is observing portion restriction.
Aforementioned compartmentalized plates and containers all share numerous disadvantageous stemming from abrupt changes in a person's diet. A portion conditioning incrementally-sized standard-sized eating-ware set is not provided. Rather, these compartmentalized dieting plates utilize dividers to form compartments for holding food to be consumed. As the portion amounts are not gradually, unnoticeably adjusted, but are rather immediate, the user will quickly feel deprived and suffer from hunger as his or her appetite is not gradually adjusted with these devices. Behavior modification is not achieved over a gradual period of time. Moreover, these devices all create a negative emotional impact on the user, as they do not discretely provide portion control mechanism. During a dinner with friends or family it will be highly obvious that the user is on a diet or subject to portion control. Moreover, none of these devices provide the ability to gradually and unnoticeably adjust one's food portions through implementation of an incrementally-sized standard-sized eating-ware set that resembles typical eating-ware components.
Even wherein systems and processes of modifying eating habits of a user are provided, rather than just portion control, these devices fail to provide an eating-ware component set that provides incrementally-sized standard-sized eating-ware components which so resemble regular eating-ware components, that a dieter (as well as others eating with the dieter) can soon forget he or she is practicing portion modification.
These devices fail to provide eating-ware components that look like typical eating-ware. These devices fail to provide a system where the user has the flexibility to eat any type of food and continue to stick to the weight management program. The incrementally-sized standard-sized eating-ware system formulas can be applied to determine standard sizes of existing eating-ware components. These devices fail to provide the user with the ability to continue their weight management program regardless of type of eating-ware components used. There is a need in the art for an incrementally-sized standard-sized eating-ware component system wherein any eating-ware item for eating food from and/or eating food with can be used as long as the formulas are applied to determine the standard size and/or sizes of the eating-ware component. Further, there is a need in the art for an incrementally-sized standard-sized eating-ware component system that can be applied to pre-packaged food eaten directly out of the packaging. None of the heretofore known devices or systems enable a user to continue his/her weight management regimen when eating directly out of pre-packaged containers.
Fluid consumption can greatly add to the total consumption of the caloric intake, especially alcohol, sodas, and fruit drinks. There is no heretofore known device or system that helps to control the gradual decrease in these high calorie consumables through a numerically guided incrementally adjustable system.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,044,739 to Matson discloses a system and processes for modifying eating habits of a user by providing a set of fixed volume graduated containers that are subdivided into sections and provide a user with means to control the volume of food consumed over time. In a weight loss program, a user is provided with a set of the graduated sectioned containers and migrates from measuring the amount of food per meal with a larger fixed volume container to measuring the amount of food per meal with a smaller fixed volume container. Unfortunately, the sectioned containers cannot feasibly be utilized in a discrete manner on a dinner table during regular meals. This has particular impact when one has dinner guests, and/or when a parent is attempting to gradually, and discretely, modify eating habits of a child. Moreover, meals require constant measuring and compartmentalizing food to be consumed. The dieter is constantly burdened with the task of loading each compartment, and is constantly reminded of his or her diet during eating. This device appears to be a deep container, which would make the portions appear even smaller from top view perspective and lead to further feeling of deprivation.
These types of diets make it very difficult for a dieter to eat outside of their home environment. In addition, they cannot be used to control liquids or the rate at which a person consumes food.
Obesity is becoming an epidemic that affects not only adults but also an increasing number of children. Family diet techniques become a necessary prerequisite for addressing weight problems that affect parents and their children when unhealthy eating habits become infused in the home. None of the weight loss or diet devices heretofore disclosed and utilized give parents a simple tool to quickly adjust a child's portion as the child grows, in order to help the child maintain healthy weight. Children of the same age may have drastically different caloric requirements depending on their build and growth spurts, and many other factors. None of the weight loss or diet devices heretofore disclosed and utilized address this important issue of giving parents and children a simple tool like a number system to follow when selecting their eating-ware.
Some of the heretofore disclosed and utilized weight loss or diet device's components remain the same size throughout the diet process, while others require measurement and transfer of a food portion. None take into account the impact on the user of seeing a smaller portion served on typically sized eating-ware. As the portions get smaller the user will feel more and more deprived and therefore, more and more discouraged from continuing on his/her weight management program.
Children consume a significant portion of their food outside of the home. None of the heretofore disclosed devices or diet methods provide a system that a young child can implement independent of the parent, for example at school. None of the heretofore disclosed devices or diet methods consider the system that a child can use to prevent being overweight as soon as the child knows letters and numbers.
Notwithstanding the efforts of prior art workers to construct an efficient dieting device and methods for modifying eating habits, there remains a need in the art for an incrementally-sized standard-sized eating-ware system and processes that provides gradual and unnoticeable food portion reduction, so that a user can modify his/her eating habits for effective weight management without feelings of deprivation. There remains a need in the art for an incrementally-sized standard-sized eating-ware system that provides a plurality of incrementally-sized standard-sized eating-ware components having successively decreasing standard size appointed to be utilized in a graduated manner over a period of time. Further, there remains a need for using a set of formulas that allow for standard sizing of the total volumetric capacity of eating-ware components, which includes the internal volume and the volume directly above the eating-ware component. There remains a need for numerical representation of the sizing that can be applied to eating-ware components and represent the total volumetric capacities of eating-ware components so that the user can follow with ease as he/she uses these incrementally-sized standard-sized eating-ware components to follow in an incremental fashion a regimen of weight management. Moreover, there remains a need in the art for a eating-ware system that provides a plurality of eating-ware components that incrementally adjust the structural dimensions to present a series of incrementally-sized standard-sized replicas of each component and therefore incrementally, gradually adjust the user habits and help the user become accustomed to consuming smaller portions over time and at a slower rate per mouthful.
There remains a need for a system of eating-ware component series that can be used by a consumer to adjust food portion size and the rate of food portion delivery with each mouthful in small increments without the feeling of deprivation. There remains a need for a system of formulas that will enable the user to eat from any type of eating-ware regardless of shape or type of eating-ware, and continue to maintain his/her weight management program. There remains a need in the art for an eating-ware system that not only controls the amount of food served as a portion but also controls the rate food is consumed with each mouthful. There remains a need for eating-ware that will enable the user to use typical eating-ware components as incrementally-sized standard-sized settings and/or as individual components and maintain weight through control of portion size and the rate of food consumption by selecting eating-ware of a standard size.
Additionally, there is a need in the art for an incrementally-sized standard-sized eating-ware set that utilizes a plurality of eating-ware components having successively decreasing standard size which become decreased by way of small increments to provide subtle changes in portion amounts served, so that a user does not feel deprived and can gradually and unnoticeably modify food portions consumed and establish healthy eating habits for effective weight management. There remains a need for a Caloric Density Mark System that will give a user a quick estimation of caloric food content.